In disposable wearing articles such as a disposable diaper and disposable pants, there is widely used a structure in which so-called leg gathers are arranged so that leg girth portions corresponding to groins of the wearer fit with the disposable wearing article. In such a disposable wearing article, the leg gathers are stretched according to the shape of the leg girth portions or movement of the wearer, and thus, the fit to the wearer (in particular, to the leg girth portions) can be secured.
Generally, as methods for manufacturing a leg gather according to the shape of the leg girth portions, there is known that by which a thin, long elastic member (e.g., filament-like rubber) is disposed in an expanded state on a sheet-like continuous body, such as a web, which is conveyed. Specifically, by means of an oscillating mechanism feeding the elastic member, which is oscillated (reciprocated), along a crossing direction (CD) crossing a conveyance direction (machine direction: MD) of the continuous body, the elastic member can be disposed on the conveyed continuous body in a waveform having a predetermined amplitude. The continuous body onto which the elastic member disposed in a waveform is bonded is cut into product sizes. The shape of the elastic member comes to fit the shape of the leg girth portions of the wearer.
Disposable pants for light incontinence, for example, are demanded to provide the fitting feeling that a wearer can feel when wearing underwear, and thus, a much improved sense of the “fit” is preferable. Therefore, there is known a method in which one portion of the elastic member disposed in a waveform by the oscillating mechanism is disposed to be deviated further outside a width-direction end of the continuous body (see Patent Document 1). Such a method facilitates the disposing of the elastic member to the entire region of the leg girth portions or realization of the shape of the elastic member that further fits the shape of the leg girth portions. It is noted that in this case, the elastic member not disposed on the continuous body is cut and removed in a downstream step.
However, the aforementioned conventional method of manufacturing a leg gather has the following problems: That is, there is a problem that when one portion of the elastic member is disposed and deviated from the continuous body, the elastic member neither disposed nor bonded on the continuous body instantaneously attempts to contract, resulting in a cause of a quality failure such as a wrinkle.
Another problem is that although the elastic member not disposed on the continuous body needs to be cut and removed in a downstream step, the expanded elastic member attempts to contract at the time of cutting, and thus, it is difficult to cut, again resulting in the cause of a quality failure.